Budgie splayed leg

[Birdlover 13]

One of my budgie pairs are currently breeding, and one of the 5 chicks (coincidentally the only albino in the clutch), has a splayed leg. I noticed the leg when it was about two weeks old and used this surgical tape to bind the legs together. Every second or third day I replaced the tape with a slightly smaller piece to bring the legs closer together. However he’s 5 weeks old now and has chewed off the tape twice now. I feel like his leg improved, but then whenever the tape comes off it’s still sticks out (although definitely not as bad as before). He’s also about to leave the nest and once he does it’ll be a lot harder to catch him and replace the tape, as the aviary is quite large and I don’t want to stress all the birds out every time.

Has anybody had any experience with a splayed leg? I don’t know what else I can do or if it’s too late? Will it be difficult for him to live with a slightly splayed leg? I can always move him to a cage and keep him in the house if it’ll help.


Here‘s a photo from 1.5 weeks ago. You can’t see the leg in this photo but I’ll see if I can get a better one.

 

[ronott1]

I hope you get help!

I do not know about budgies but chicks need a splint soon after hatching.

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

I had a chick with splay leg, she was fine (other then getting a sickness and passing but she made it to almost a year), I’m not sure if it will be the same with a budgie but what I did is I got a small hair rubber band to hold her legs together while they grew, if they also have crooked toes try putting a small piece of paper on the bottom of their feet with help of either tape or rubber band to help their toes grow straight